Winter is truly with us now, and those of you that passed your driving tests in summer might be driving in these conditions for the first time, or you might be learning to with a friend so here are some useful tips.

Take driving lessons with a professional instructor. You might have passed the practical test, but winter conditions are totally different from summer, and there is nothing like gaining practical experience in a dual controlled car on how to deal with snow, fog, and black ice. Also your instructor has many years of experience and for the cost of 1 or 2 lessons you could save on car repair costs and higher insurance premiums.

Make sure you have clear vision all round your car. With low temperatures, windows will be covered with frost, so get to the car a few minutes early so you can get the windows cleared before driving off.

A lot of modern cars have heated front and rear windscreens, so you can start the engine and use these to clear the front and back windows, however you will still need to manually wipe clean the side windows.

If you have air conditioning you could use this to help clear the damp and moist air.

No matter how in a hurry you are, don't drive with misted or frosted up windows as it only takes a second for an accident to occur!

Drive carefully and don't get dazzled. The sun is usually low in the sky in winter months, and this means that you can easily be dazzled, so drive slowly if facing the sun, also remember that the temperatures could be freezing outside, and don't get fooled by the greenhouse effect of the rays in the car, the road could be icy and there might not be as much grip on the road due to black ice.

Listen to weather warnings. Severe weather warnings are sometimes issued by the met office, listen to these, and if you are driving a car in an area affected, it might be wise not to drive if they predict adverse weather with black ice on the road or deep snow.

Don't be lured into a sense of false security. Having a 4X4 vehicle does not necessarily mean that it would be safe to drive on icy roads. If the road is frozen over, the car tyres might not have any grip at all, and all it takes is one false move and the car goes sliding down the road.

Above all use common sense, if it is not necessary for you to be out driving in dangerous conditions, then stay in or use alternative means of transport.

In foggy conditions give other cars enough distance to stop, use headlights and fog lights if visibility is less than 100m as per show me tell me questions on the test

2 comments:

I came across your blog recently and couldn’t but help notice how you use your blog to comment on work-related experiences, etc. I’m currently trying to do some recent into work-related blogs (work needs to be a main part of the blog, but can cover other things as well) and would like you to help out at this preliminary stage by filling in a quick questionnaire for me.

You can get to the questionnaire at:

http://www.my3q.com/home2/62/apr2112/87894.phtml

For more details about my research and links to nearly 500 work-related blogs then please visit my own blog at:

http://workblogging.blogspot.com

Thank you for helping me and feel free to contact me if you have an queries on the matter.

You have a great blog going. I just wanted to say I passed my test last January and in the first week of driving with my automatic licence I was driving through snow blizzards (had to get to work). The best thing to do is *slow down*. I think you offer some great advice - keep it up :-)